Of Keys and Kunai
by Reaper's flame
Summary: A world is shattered by it's own inherent darkness. In response, a boy finds the key to put it all back together, but can he overcome the darkness of an entire world? Takes place in the Naruto Universe with references to the Kingdom Hearts Story along the way. No BETA yet... Massive Work In Progress.
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's note: I'm broke and therefore own nothing of Kingdom Hearts or Naruto directly. They belong to their specific owners. This is the only time I will say this._**

In the dark of night, a young boy leapt from tree to tree. Headed to an old cabin, the boy hefted the large scroll on his back and accelerated to inhuman speeds. After a few moments of travel, he comes to a stop and lands on the ground. He steps into the light, his garishly orange jumpsuit and striking blonde hair revealed. Grumbling slightly, the blonde boy known as Naruto Uzumaki let the Forbidden Scroll fall to the ground. Unrolling the scroll, he began to read, slowly and carefully. "Shadow Clones? Well, maybe it can get me out of the paperwork when I become Hokage… wait what's this?" he muttered confusedly. As he read on, Naruto stumbled across a section blatantly labeled 'Unknown Items'. "I wonder if one of these is a super awesome weapon!" he exclaimed. Smiling, he channeled chakra into the first seal. A poof of smoke revealed… "just a key chain?" Naruto muttered, dissatisfied. The keychain was a simple leaf symbol attached to a short 6-inch chain, all sterling silver. A shadow flickered into view at the edge of the clearing.

"NARUTO!" yelled an irritated man. His brown hair slightly disheveled from its usual pineapple shape, Iruka Umino was not a happy man. "WHY ON EARTH DID" he began to yell, only to be cut off by Naruto tackling him to the ground. A shadowy blob flew by through the space where the teacher's head once was. The blob landed a few feet away, revealing a black vaguely humanoid figure. It was very short, maybe 2 feet tall, and rounded almost like a child's drawing of an insect, complete with 2 curly antennae. It's glowing yellow eyes stared into Naruto's sapphire blue ones. Then the unexplainable happened. Naruto felt his chakra flow into the keychain and with a flash of light, something manifested. In his hand was a weapon, seemingly a demon windmill shuriken with a single blade. From that blade, a beam of pure blue chakra as wide as the blade extended about 1 and a half feet, ending attached to one of the 4th Hokage's legendary tri-pronged kunai. This strange new weapon generally resembled a key. Acting on instinct, Naruto swung his new key at the strange creature, dispersing it into a black mist. Before either the teacher or the student could question these events, a scream rang through the woods. Suddenly alert, the two ran to the source to discover a small horde of these… shadows. In the center of the mob was a screaming man with pale hair mostly hidden under a bandana. His scream cut off as he was consumed in black mist, his heart stolen away. "MIZUKI!" cried Iruka, scared for his co-worker. Iruka turned to Naruto. "Naruto, use that key. We have no choice but to fight. I'll back you up." The boy grinned.

"I've got an idea." Channeling more chakra into the key, Naruto closed his eyes as he felt the raw power flow back out into him, surrounding him. Iruka gasped as a shadow of the Fourth Hokage appeared behind the boy, seemingly made of pure chakra. Naruto's eyes snapped open, words called to his lips by the power raging through his system. "FLASH RAID!" He called, throwing the Key in a sweeping arc. Disappearing in a flash of yellow light, the boy caught the key on the other side of the horde and threw it again. Flash after flash, Naruto appeared all around the clearing, until nothing remained. Poor Iruka was so shocked that he could do nothing as Naruto collapsed, his chakra exhausted.

Naruto blinked awake, floating in water. Standing up, he found himself in a sewer with no clue how he got there. **"Come to me."** Naruto shivered as the deep demonic voice passed through the hall. With nothing better to do, he followed the voice until he ended up in a massive room. Half the room was shrouded in darkness beyond massive gold bars. On the bars was a massive tag with the word seal written on it in Kanji. **"Good, you came."** The deep voice rumbled from behind the bars. **"We have much to discuss. Most of it has to do with your little Keyblade. To start, your world is breaking."**

Naruto stared into the shadows for a few seconds before screaming. "WHAAAAAAAAAAT?"


	2. Chapter 2

"What do you mean my world is breaking? Who the hell even are you?" Naruto ranted.

" **I meant what I said, these strange creatures have split your world into smaller pieces. They couldn't steal the Heart of this world, it was too strong. They broke it into smaller parts instead. Fragments, really. As for who I am, well…"** A blood red eye snapped open. As crimson glow surrounded the shape of a nine-tailed fox. **"I am the great Kyuubi! The Nine-Tailed Fox! Destroyer of Nations! More importantly, I am stuck working with you, boy."** This cut off Naruto's shocked yelp. **"Because you have that Keyblade, you are responsible for fixing your shattered world. Since I want to live, I'll have to help you."** Naruto looked down at his empty hands, wondering what he got himself into. This all seemed like a massive responsibility. As that thought hit him, he made a realization. Naruto began to laugh. **"What's so funny, boy?"** Kyuubi spat. Was this dumb kid bipolar or something?

"Simple, fox, this is a big responsibility. This is something a Hokage would handle, so I'll be working toward my dream while kicking ass and saving the whole world!" Naruto grinned. "If this world is cursed by darkness, then I'll break that curse." The Kyuubi blinked once. Twice. A third time. Then He too began to laugh. Laughing at the audacity of this child. Laughing at the irony of the situation that he, a being of hate, was going to help wipe out darkness. The odd pair laughed for some time, before the laughter faded into a serious atmosphere. "So what next? How do I reunite my world?" Kyuubi paused as he thought about this.

" **To rebuild, you'll need a strong base. First, you'll need to find our current fragment's keyhole. Once you seal that, we can move on to the second step."** Naruto raised an eyebrow. **"Step two will be find the nearest fragment. To do that I'll need time. It takes time to sense out a world fragment across a void, ok?"** Kyuubi muttered somewhat indignantly. Naruto nodded, having no idea what the giant fox in front of him meant besides be patient. **"that last move you used, Flash Raid? Don't rely on it."** Naruto opened his mouth to complaint, but Kyuubi cut him off. **"It takes up all your remaining chakra. It's more powerful with more chakra, but it could be a great finishing move without much chakra too. Just understand, it will take whatever you have left. Don't want to pass out if your opponent counters your attack, do you?"** Suddenly, Naruto's form began to fade out. Kyuubi sighed. **"Seems like you're out of time for now. I'll call you when I find the closest fragment."**

Naruto woke up on the couch in the Hokage's office. Naruto blearily opened his eye to the conversation going on between the Hokage and… some guy in a mask. This masked man had spiky gray hair and wore his headband slanted over one eye. "so that's your field report?"

The masked man nodded "yup."

The Hokage sighed. "so, it broke into your house?"

"Yup." Replied the man

"and you stabbed the thing 36 times?"

"37."

The Hokage sighed once again, resting his head in his hands. "You need to start going on walks Kakashi. More importantly, how did you kill the creature? Most ninja can't kill them with weapons." The now revealed Kakashi held up a peculiar short sword. The Hokage nodded and said "The white chakra sabre, right." The Hokage made a note on a document and dismissed the man, who disappeared in a puff of smoke. The old man known as the Hokage turned to Naruto and smiled. "Finally awake, my boy?" the blonde chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head, and nodded. The Old man became serious. "Naruto, while I congratulate you on your promotion to Genin Ninja, I'm going to have to assign you to a special squad. That key of yours has suddnely become an invaluable resource. Based on an old text, these creatures are called Heartless. The attack the weak and steal their hearts. For what purpose, we don't know. So far there have been no casualties thanks to the knowledge of Chakra's use against the monsters, but this cannot last. I need you to find our city's keyhole and seal it to stop the heartless. For this assignment, I am placing you, Sasuke Uchiha, and Hinata Hyuuga under the command of Kakashi Hatake." The Hokage's gaze hardened "Do you understand Naruto?"

The boy, although grinning excitedly, had a burning determination in his eyes. "Yes, sir. You can count on me."

The aged man smiled. "good. Meet in briefing room 7 at 06:00 for your first briefing with your team. Now go home and get some good rest."


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **I'M ALIVE!**

 **Well, mostly. College is rough. Anyway, sorry for the loooooooooooooong delay. This is a lot of exposition. Feel free to ask questions and review honestly, but don't flame please. I'm still new at this. Note that this chapter is where I reveal a bit about changes to the cannon material. It's a Cross Over, by definition it's gonna be AU. There will be more info at the bottom about my changes to the cannon.**

 **Thanks again!**

 **-Reaper's Flame**

At 05:50 the next morning, three Genin sat in briefing room 7. One, a pale girl with white, pupil-less eyes and short dark blue hair, sat quietly in a corner, trying to disappear further into her bulky jacket. This is Hinata Hyuuga. Next to her sat a tired blonde boy in a bright orange track suit. The final member sat next to the neon orange form of Naruto Uzumaki sat a brooding dark-haired boy with hair that vaguely resembled a duck. Sasuke Uchiha, the duck-haired boy, was not having a good day. First, he is attacked at three in the god damn morning by strange monsters that can't be killed by anything short of Jutsu. Since at the moment the only offensive Jutsu he knew well enough to use in combat was the Great Fireball technique… well Sasuke was now short one apartment and almost everything in it. Even the activation of his Sharingan couldn't entirely drag him out of his funk. Now he was sitting in a room so small it might as well be a closet, containing only 3 chairs at a small table. There was also a blackboard against one wall. All in all, Sasuke was tired, cramped, and irritated.

Naruto on the other hand was excited, so much so he was practically vibrating in his seat, ready for his teacher and squad leader to arrive. After sleeping quite well the night before, he had woken up early and initially panicked due to not being able to find hi precious keychain. He soon discovered it was attached to his keyblade, and said blade would be summoned at will. Throwing on his favorite Jumpsuit, Naruto waltzed into his kitchen and made himself breakfast, eggs with some disgusting green things the Old Hokage made him eat (vegetables). On his way to the tower, he ran into his team mates and tried to start a conversation only to fail miserably due to Sasuke's irritation and Hinata's shyness. Naruto was now grinning like a child on his birthday as he sat waiting in the small briefing room.

Hinata was nervous. After a morning of interrogation by her father, she was rushed off to the Hokage's Tower for a mission briefing that she didn't know about because her notification was intercepted by said father who was curious why his "weak" daughter would be specially requested for an elite squad. Hinata knew she wasn't weak. She excelled against targets, moving or stationary. When it came to harming her own family, however… she couldn't do it. Harm the very people she trained to protect? The very idea baffled her. Lost in thought she nearly ran over her new teammate Sasuke Uchiha on her way to the tower. Soon joined by her blonde crush, the young Hyuuga Heiress could barely stutter out an apology to her dark-haired teammate. Now the three sat waiting for their teacher to arrive.

Wait on they did.

At precisely 06:00, a puff of smoke appeared behind the table, dispersing quickly to reveal a man with spikey silver hair that seemed to defy gravity. He wore a blue mask that rose from his collar up to his nose, covering his entire lower face. He wore his Headband slanted over his left eye. "Hey, aren't you that guy the Old Man was talking to last night? Kakashi, right?" asked Naruto. Kakashi's only visible eye crinkled upward, indicating he was smiling under his mask.

"Good memory Naruto. Now, on to business." Kakashi's face became serious. "normally, I would test you three to determine your value as a team. However, we're currently in a war-time state. Welcome to the Ninja Corps kiddos. That being said, let me lay down some ground rules. There will be no deceit between us on this team. You lie to me or your teammates, you will suffer for it. We are the vanguard of Konoha's retaliation against these heartless. Sasuke, your chakra signature is especially effective against Heartless." Sasuke frowns, confused. "Hinata, the Byakugan can see heartless as they travel in their strange shadow rifts." Hinata ducks her heard timidly. "Naruto," Kakashi chuckles "you have the most potent weapon against the heartless in your back pocket, so to speak." Naruto nods, grinning determinedly. "any questions so far?" Sasuke stands. "Kakashi, how do you know about my Chakra signature? I get the Hyuuga bit, and I assume you or Naruto will explain what you meant by 'weapon', but why my particular chakra?" Kakashi pulls a file out of his vest and puts it on the table. The label on the front reads 'Shinobi Health Records Department', and Sasuke Uchiha is printed on the side.

"All Shinobi are tested throughout the academy and given physical evaluations regularly. Do you all remember charging the sealing tag for the academy doctors?" Kakashi asks. the three Genin nod, and Naruto rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "We drained some of that chakra we had stored and used it on a heartless captured by the Nara Clan. Yours consistently did the most damage. I assume it's tied in to your bloodline. Perhaps the Uchiha were created by god to fight these creates." Sasuke sits down, satisfied with the answer for now. Kakashi Continues. "Now, I want to know about you all. Your skills, likes, dislikes, plans for the future, and your past. All of it. I know some from your files, but I want to hear it from you." Naruto stopped smiling, trepidation settling in. _"Oh god. He's gonna make me tell them about the Kyuubi isn't he? SHIT! How can they work with me knowing He's sealed inside my gut, let alone helping me…"_ Naruto thought to himself. "Hinata, I want you to start." Kakashi stated. Startled out of his internal monologue, Hinata began

"W-w-well, I'm Hinata Hyuuga. I'm passable with main branch Gentle Fist. I know the Academy three for Jutsu, as well as some basic escape Jutsu." Kakashi raised his eyebrow at that. "I-I-I have passable Chakra Levels according to my father, and I have decent control. I like flower pressing, training on my own, and… someone… I dislike my Clan's elders. I hope to be s-s-strong one day. Strong e-enough to protect my family and tell him… that..." Hinata blushes furiously and looks at her feet.

Kakashi waives her to continue, but Hinata remains silent. Kakashi sighs. "Hinata, why do you know escape Jutsu? Those aren't taught until Chunin level, where capture by enemies is more likely." Hinata seems to collapse in on herself, fear, shame, and depression emanating from her.

"…I was almost kidnapped as a child…" Hinata whispers. The room was dead silent. A pin dropping would have sounded like a bomb blast. "I-I was 4. It was my Birthday. I remember going to my room after the celebration, tired. Next thing I know, there was a man dressed in a black robe standing over my bed. He put s-s-something over my face, and I felt dizzy. I woke up a little later, in a bag. I was being carried by a different man, a ninja from Kumo. I t-t-tried to escape my bindings, struggling. The Ninja noticed and set the bag down. He was shocked to find me inside. After that, someone else stepped in. My savior. I-I-I p-p-passed out ag-g-gain after that. I-I-I woke up to find out m-my father ha-had…" Hinata chocked back a sob, tears streaming down her face. Naruto was on the verge of exploding in anger. Sasuke looked as emotional as stone, but if one looked closely, his hands were twitching in anger as well. "...killed the Kumo ninja in anger. The poor man never got to explain himself…" Hinata collapsed into her chair, too emotionally exhausted to continue. Kakashi walked up to her. Placing a hand on her shoulder as a sign of support.

"after that, Kumo demanded reparations for their killed ambassador. Correct?" Hinata nodded. "So, you learned escape Jutsu to never be in that position again. That is wise of you. You chose to learn from the event. Hinata, was your savior your father?" hinata shook her head. "Do you remember who it was?" another shake of the head. Kakashi sighed and nodded. "that's enough for me. You did well. That was a lot to drag up. Just know that I am here for you now."

"and so am I!" Naruto interrupts "I won't let anyone take my friends. If I'm still breathing, I'll do my best to help everyone" Sasuke pauses for a moment.

"Hinata, I know we didn't speak much in the academy, but know this. I WILL help you. You are my teammate now." Hinata was blown away by the support of her new team and nods her head dumbly. Kakashi stands tall.

"Sasuke, you're up." Sasuke makes an irritated tsk. Before standing.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha. I have memorized my Clan's martial arts and can go through every from perfectly, but I lack combat experience to call myself a master. I recently awakened my Sharingan, and with it I intend to learn some more Jutsu." Kakashi's eye narrows ever so slightly "I currently know the grand fire ball Jutsu and the academy three. I like tomatoes, training and stare gazing" Naruto's eyebrows shot up into his hairline at this point. Kakashi merely nodded in approval of the young Uchiha's openness. "I dislike liars, traitors, and biggots. My dream…no. My AMBITION is to hunt down…" Sasuke takes a breath, clearly struggling to force the truth out. "…is to hunt down My Brother, Itachi Uchiha and drag him back here." Naruto looks solemn. Hinata has sympathy painted all over her face. "The official story is that he killed the rest of our clan. That's not… strictly true." Sasuke sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "you see, he wasn't alone."

FLASHBACK

A much younger Sasuke Uchiha was running. He ran as fast as his little 8-year-old legs could carry him. The abandoned roads around him were covered in scorch marks, but almost no blood war found. To an 8-year-Old however, it looked like something out of a horror movie. He ran until he reached his home. A home that at this time would normally be well lit, yet it was as dark as the rest of the compound. Fear gripped his heart, cold as ice. Suddenly, the sound of fighting hit his ears, coming from the backyard. Panicked, he dashed through the House and slammed the back door open, to see his brother fighting a monster. A creature made of shadows. Its eyes were glowing a vibrant yellow. It had a roughly humanoid shape, with black bird wings sprouted from its back. Its hands, no, claws had metal shackles connected with chains to it's chest were a symbol of a red heart with an 'X' over it was emblazoned. All in all, it was terrifying. The black mist seeping from is jagged red maw didn't help that any. Itachi charged lightning chakra through his short sword and ran the creature through the middle. The creature screamed in agony, the began to disperse, forming into a little black ball with spikes that jumped into the shadows and disappeared, leaving the body of his father behind. _"Oh God, what has Itachi done?!"_ mentally cried a now traumatized Sasuke. His father collapsed into Itachi's arms, his last words ringing through the silent night. "thank you for freeing me from that horror… my… sssson…" he smiled as blood leaked from his mouth and chest. Then Fugaku Uchiha, father of Sasuke and Itachi, stopped moving. Itachi, still unaware of Sasuke, cried in anguish to the heavens as rain began to pour from the sky, washing away the little evidence. Sasuke collapsed in a heap too shocked to move, or to fight. Itachi whipped around to see his little brother frightened. His Mangekyo Sharringan spinning, Itachi looked into his brother's eyes and uttered

"Tsukuyomi"

END FLASHBACK

Kakashi listened, eye wider than usual. Naruto's jaw appeared to have unhinged. Hinata had her hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her face. Sasuke sighed. "He trained me for three days. He told me everything, how father seemingly start to go mad and start a coup. The elders had insisted he not go through with it, but he ignored their pleas for reason. Finally, Itachi decided to challenge his father to a duel for leadership of the clan. When Itachi won, all hell broke loose. These heartless poured from the shadows, killing everyone in sight. Many, due to the time of night, were asleep. Most of the rest were caught off guard by the bastard's strange forms and killed. And the creature that had been manipulating my father showed its true face, using him like the puppet he had become…" Sasuke trailed off into a whisper. Determination settled over his visage. "Knowing what the scene looked like and knowing no one would believe us, Itachi made a plan. He would take the blame and leave the village. He was trained enough to survive out there alone and still grow even stronger. I would stay here and gain enough strength to not only avenge our family, but to protect our home so we could start a new one when the time was right." Sasuke sighed as he sat down, his emotions wild as he took deep breaths to calm himself. It had taken him years to get control of his emotions, returning to level after dragging himself back through the pit was difficult, but achievable for someone as practiced as him. Kakashi pondered his student's words silently as the other two Genin composed themselves. _"If what Sasuke said is true, then we have a wrongly banished Ninja out there that could be a great help."_ Kakashi looked Sasuke in the eye.

"Sasuke ,I have to notify the Hokage of this information after our meeting. He may call you to his office for some follow up questions. If we can get your brother back here, he might be able to help us. It also confirms our theory that the Uchiha would have been a powerful deterrent against the Heartless. Why else would the have used such a strategy to wipe out as many as they could out?" Sasuke nods, calm once again. All eyes turn to the final Genin of the team. "Naruto, it's time." The uncharacteristic frown on Naruto's face deepened. Kakashi gave him a sympathetic look. "I'll give you the extra terminology you'll need as you go. Just do your best." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. Hinata looked at Naruto and smiled reassuringly.

Naruto stood. "hey guys, you know me. Number one resident prankster and all that. I'm the Great Naruto Uzumaki!" Hinata giggled a little and Sasuke smiled slightly while rolling his eyes. "well… that's part of it anyway… I'm also an orphan." Sasuke's look turned sympathetic. "I know Substitution and Transformation, but I can't do the clone Jutsu." Sasuke frowned.

"how did you get out of the Academy then, dummy?" Sasuke asked, a little bit of mirth seeping into his tone during the insult. Naruto smirked slightly. "I was getting to that ya bastard." Naruto bantered. "after I failed the graduation exam, again,"

"wait, hold up. Again?" Sasuke interrupted, frowning. "I know you're our age. We all started together. We all graduate at 16. It was a law put into place across all 5 great Nations after the last Great Ninja war. Even if you graduated, you'd just have been into dedicated training. Did you try for early graduation?" Naruto nodded, mildly irked that He'd been interrupted again.

"Twice, actually." Sasuke sighed and nodded. _"definitely something Naruto would do."_ Seeing his look, Naruto grunted. "not for the reason you think. I was being sabotaged at the academy." Everyone froze at that. Kakashi was trembling in rage. Sasuke stood up so fast he nocked his chair over. Hinata was snarling. Hinata! Naruto continued. "usually it was little things. Never anything direct like changing exams or flat out abuse. I was simply graded harsher than anyone else. When I would ask a question, I was ignored or passed over for others. I didn't have money to buy my own equipment, so all the academy could offer me was hand me downs. As a result, I could barely learn anything. I wanted to graduate so I could do simple missions to earn money and get real gear. Iruka offered to help me out if I could graduate, so I tried. We can discus finer points of if that counts as abuse or negligence for how I graduated, simple. I asked Old Man Hokage for a chance to prove myself. He said he'd come up with something. Mizuki handed me a scroll from him detailing my mission. I was to steal the forbidden scroll and learn a single Jutsu from it." Sasuke by this point nearly fell out of his recently picked up chair. Hinata was entrapped in the story. Kakashi merely nodded, having known about the test. "I succeeded. I learned a more advanced version of the clone Jutsu called the Shadow Clone Jutsu." Now Kakashi was a bit shocked and decided to interject.

"how long did that take you?"

Naruto grinned. "it was like breathing. It was only a single hand sign. Admittedly I didn't get to practice more than once, but considering it worked the first time, I'd call it learned but not mastered. After that things got interesting. Remember the 'weapon' Kakashi told you guys about?" the other two Genin nodded dumbly. Naruto held out his hand. With a bright flash, his keyblade appeared. The blue chakra running from the handle up the single blade of the windmill shuriken swirled wildly, yet the tri-pronged kunai stayed in place. Kakashi's single eye threatened to pop out of his head. "This is my Keyblade," Naruto continued, "and with it, I can free the hearts taken by heartless, destroying them and saving the people whose' hearts they tole. Not to mention saving the person who became a heartless in the first place." Sasuke smiled sadly. _"If only Itachi had a keyblade back then, maybe Dad could have still been here…"_ Naruto released his keyblade and with another flash it disappeared. "Back to my skills. Uh, oh yeah. I don't have a set style, but I'm flexible and can adapt on the fly in a fist fight. I know substitution, transformation and Shadow Clone Jutsus. I'm excessively good at stealth and I can run for literal hours, maybe even days. Admittedly haven't tried yet. I like ramen, training, and my few friends, including all of you." Everyone smiled at that. "I dislike ignorance, bigotry, and loneliness. As for my future, well, I've said it once and I'll say it a thousand more times if I have to. I WILL become Hokage. Other than that, I want to start a family of my own." Naruto's grin faltered a bit. "also find out what happened to the one I was supposed to already have…" everyone paused waiting for Naruto to continue. "as for my past… Do I have to Kakashi? I just got them to like me…" Naruto smiled sadly, tearing up slightly. Sasuke frowned, wondering what could be so bad. Before Kakashi could interrupt, Hinata interjected loudly.

"Naruto, no matter what, I will still be here for you. I… you're… you're my teammate…." She finished quietly. Sasuke nodded and grunted his agreement with her words. Kakashi smiled. His team was bonding faster than expected. Naruto sniffled before wiping his eyes and smiling

"thanks, Hinata. You too… Sasuke." Sasuke grinned when Naruto called him by name instead of their usual banter insults. "I… well there's no good way to put this. I was basically deprived of all positive social contact minus a few people. No one truly came out and did anything besides the occasional dunk and fly bottles." The room seemed to twitch in anger at that. "I was rarely greeted with genuine happiness. It was always terse. Always tense. As if there was an underlying anger that was provoked by the sight of me." Hinata started to tear up. Who could treat anyone like that? _"How could they treat MY Naruto like that?"_ Hinata blinked _"correction, will one day be mine I WILL work hard enough to be strong and tell him how I feel."_ Sasuke gritted his teeth waiting for Naruto to continue. Kakashi was currently as expressive as a rock. "Last night, I learned why. I am connected to the Kyuubi." The two Genin were confused. Kakashi knew it was time to add information.

"the term you're looking for is Jinchuriki. It literally means 'power of Human Sacrifice'. The Kyuubi is sealed away inside you." Realization dawned on all three Genin's faces. "The Forth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi within you to protect the village. It was the only way. I suspect that even though the people know you AREN'T the Kyuubi, the pain associated with the memories caused them to limit their interactions with you to the barest minimum." Naruto nodded sadly, understanding. He didn't hate them for it, but understanding doesn't cure wounds. Just as the people of the village understood he wasn't the fox, the pain they felt due to the memories his presence evoked was still there.

"…there's more." Naruto croaked, more than a bit emotional. He cleared his throat. "after a fight with the heartless, I passed out. I met the Fox in my unconscious mind." Kakashi froze. "It… no, HE wants to help us wipe out the heartless. He doesn't really like the villagers at all, but he said... the world. It's shattered." The Genin in the room looked confused, but Kakashi had an epiphany.

"there's a wall of mist that's a few miles outside Konoha. Anyone who goes in gets spit back out moments later. Perhaps that's what the fox meant by shattered."

All three Genin looked troubled. "so, what now?" Naruto piped in.

Kakashi smiled once again. "now I introduce myself." Naruto laughed slightly sheepishly, having assumed Kakashi wouldn't introduce himself. "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I am technically an orphan too." The other two boys in the room blinked in surprise. "My father committed suicide after abandoning a mission during the last great war to save his team. It wasn't until after his death that the people realized what he had stood for, so they belittled him for abandoning a mission. The lesson is simple. What's the point of a successful mission if there's no one at home to celebrate it because they died?" Kakashi paused while the Genin pondered that. "that lesson didn't sink in for me until later in the war. I was a Jonin. My other two teammates were Chunin. My sensei, Minato Namikaze- "Naruto's head whipped up as he cut off the last of his ponderings at hearing the Forth Hokage's name mentioned as his new sensei's sensei. Kakashi mentally chuckled. The action reminded him of his late teammate, Obito. "-had another mission elsewhere on the battlefield. During a fight, one of my teammates was captured by enemy shinobi. I wanted to abandon her and continue the mission without her. He was so angry that he punched me mid-mission." Kakashi chuckled. "the more I think about it, the more I think He and Naruto would have gotten along really well. He also wanted to be Hokage, and you have a lot of the same mannerisms." Naruto smiled slightly at that. "His name was Obito Uchiha." Sasuke openly gaped. _"My uncle?! He acted like NARUTO?! THE HELL?"_ Kakashi smirked slightly at Sasuke's face. "he said to me these words. 'Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are wore than trash.' I live by these words now." Kakashi paused, making sure this was all sinking in. "We went to save our other teammate, Rin, however, I lost my left eye in the process." The Genin cringed. "…and Obito sacrificed his life to save me." Kakashi finished in a tone just above a whisper. "He was half crushed under a giant bolder. His last gift to me was this." Kakashi revealed his left eye, his implanted Sharringan spinning slightly. Sasuke was in awe. Giving someone else your sharringan was the highest honor an Uchiha could give. It meant LITERALLY sacrificing your sight for another. He lacked the words to describe the value of such a gift. His respect for his teacher rose significantly. "that's not all, the guilt I felt over Obito's death pushed me beyond." Kakashi's sharringan spun into it's Mangekyo state. Sasuke smiled sadly. "This is the Magekyo Sharringan. It can be achieved only by feeling immense remorse. Although highly uncommon in the Uchiha clan, many unlock it. They usually went out in a blaze of glory. It's incredibly chakra-consumptive. They used its power to avenge their fallen, then die of their wounds or chakra exhaustion." Sasuke cringed. "Sasuke, I hope you never gain these eyes." Inwardly Sasuke agreed. The Cost was too high. Kakashi sighed. It seemed that he went off on a tangent. "refocusing, I am a Jonin. I am skilled in many forms of martial arts and am approved by Might Gai to teach the Strong Fist if I get his permission for the student. I Know over a thousand different combat Jutsu, but I've only truly mastered 5." This drew slight confusion from the Genin. Kakashi pointed to his once again standard sharringan. "the sharringan can copy Jutsu that use hand signs. Mastery usually means you can use no hand signs or even better use the wrong hand signs to mislead your enemies. I have dabbled a bit in all areas of Ninja skills. I am passable in GenJutsu and Medical Jutsu. I am a former ANBU captain, meaning I am a master of stealth. Essentially, I can teach you pretty much anything you want to learn. They few things I can't teach you, I can at least get you through the basics while I find someone who can. I like my comrades, Konoha, and... shall we say a certain book series." Kakashi giggles slightly. "I dislike traitors, and those worse than trash. My dream for the future is to make sure that Konoha shines brightly so that comrades didn't die for nothing. You've already heard my past." Kakashi finished. The man took a deep breath. "now that that's complete. I'll say one more thing." Kakashi's features hardened. The somewhat lackadaisical and reassuring attitude left his posture. All that remained was seriousness. Before the three teens no longer stood a man, but a battle-forged warrior. "forget what you think you know. Abandon anything that would hold you back. Things like Clan laws or pride will only hinder you. Anything I will teach you has the potential to save your life. Learn it. I will only tell you the truth during training. If I say you suck, then you suck. If I say you excel, then you excel. I ill determine when you are ready for something new. Do not demand more unless you meet my requirements. Understood?" All three Genin instinctively snapped to attention, goaded by the authority this man spoke with. Not once did they question it. A trio of 'Yes, sir.' Echoed through the small room. With that, the lackadaisical attitude returned to their sensei, his eye indicating his smile. "good. follow me kiddos. I need to set some baseline tests for our training." The tests were rigorous. Kakashi tested them on everything and revealed his own scores as well. The results were measured in exponential numbers, each number being harder to reach than the last. The average scores fresh out of the academy were fives.

WARNING: NUMBERS AND STATS INCOMING

 **NARUTO UZUMAKI**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 12 (Only Naruto's Chakra was measured. Does not count Kyuubi)

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 4

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 6

 **STRENGTH:** 6

 **SPEED:** 7

 **ENDURANCE:** 10

 **STEALTH:** 10

 **IQ:** 114 (Naruto is capable of learning and understanding quite a bit. He's ill-educated, not truly dumb. Hence the next score.)

 **EDUCATION:** 3

 **SASUKE UCHIHA**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 7

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 9

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 9

 **STRENGTH:** 7

 **SPEED:** 7

 **ENDURANCE:** 6

 **STEALTH:** 7

 **IQ:** 126

 **EDUCATION:** 7

 **HINATA HYUUGA**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 5

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 15 (She's a Hyuuga. The Gentle fist relies on chakra control. She said passable due to self-confidence issues.)

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 5

 **STRENGTH:** 5

 **SPEED:** 8

 **ENDURANCE:** 5

 **STEALTH:** 6

 **IQ:** 119

 **EDUCATION:** 6

 **KAKASHI HATAKE**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 9

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 13

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 11

 **STRENGTH:** 9 (He's Gai's rival. Fuck yeah, he's fast and strong. Keep in mind, my version of Kakashi never let himself go because he gave himself a mission. He's still in top form.)

 **SPEED:** 10

 **ENDURANCE:** 8

 **STEALTH:** 15

 **IQ:** 131

 **EDUCATION:** 10

After collecting all the data, Kakashi looked down at the panting lumps on the ground that are his Genin. Checking the clock, Kakashi nods to himself "Alright Kids, that's all for today. Unless we are deployed on a mission, we will follow the following schedule. Meet at 07:00 at training field 7 for training. Lunch break at noon for an hour, then more training until 15:00. After that I'll set us up against some friends of mine to run some scenario missions. Since we're technically on a constant mission as a heartless extermination squad, we won't be doing regular missions. You'll receive weekly pay and once you move in to the ninja district, your housing expenses will be covered while you're on a mission. Oh, by the way, I've taken the liberty to have your things moved to our squad building. We share a floor in building 4. Luckily, we got the second floor, so no long stair climbs." The Genin groaned pitifully in what Kakashi decided to assume was gratitude. "Here's the address and your room keys. Your rooms have a number on the door with your name under it. Well, I'm off to see the Hokage. Don't get lost!" Kakashi vanished in a swirl of leaves.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. He looked around at his 6 shadow clones, each with a small stack of paperwork. This leaves him, the Original, free to focus on more urgent matters. _"so, the Inuzuka Clan is decidedly effective against the heartless. The elderly members are pulling themselves out of retirement as best they can and bringing the younger kids up to speed. Kiba is showing exceptional boosts in skill and restraint. The Yamanka Clan, however has almost no advantage against the normal heartless. These 'possessors' that have appeared are easy pickings for them, as they can fight the monsters mentally. It seems they strength they gain by possessing an object is only physical. The Akamichi Clan is somewhat neutral as they aren't any more or less effective against heartless when compared to standard opponents. The smaller ones tend to avoid some of the expansion strikes though… hmm… The Nara Clan's shadow manipulation abilities make it easy to take and hold prisoners. The Aburame Clan's skillset seem better used as a sensory net over the village in this case as they don't have a particular advantage either… Tsunade finally got her wish of a Medical Corps, and it even has a rising star student."_ The wizened Hokage was interrupted of his inter thoughts by three swirls of leaves appearing just outside his open office door. Smiling slightly, the new arrivals stepped into his office and saluted. "Welcome Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi as well. You're all right on time." The jovial smile left the Old Man's face. In his place sat the powerful Third Hokage. "Report."

Kurenai stepped forward. "Sir, the new Medical Corps is moving faster than expected. Many retired Medical Ninja and Doctors alike jumped at the chance to help in this time of need. As a result, we have plenty of funding and knowledge being thrown in to the program. Of the core dedicated recruits, Sakura Haruno is demonstrating the most talent. She'll be moving into practical lessons within the week." The Hokage nodded. "of the students only learning in a supplemental role, Ino Yamanka is showing the most promise. If she had chosen to dedicate her time to the field, she'd be a much closer rival to Sakura. As it is, she is improving in her clan techniques rapidly as per her Father's projections. It seems he did not overestimate her ability as some of us feared. That is all for my report." Kurenai stepped back in line and returned to attention. Asuma stepped forward. "Sir, the integration of the common Jutsu library and mass training is going exceptionally well. Through research on captured Heartless, it has been discovered that channeling Elemental Chakra through a weapon makes it over ten times more effective against heartless. As such many Chunin and Jonin are refining their elemental control. The Genin have been granted access to Chakra paper as you requested and are being instructed on how to gain control of their elements from the upper ranking ninja. I estimate the Genin will have a basic grasp of channeling an element through a weapon within a month. This concludes my report." The Hokage nodded once again and Asuma returned to the line. Finally, Kakashi stepped forward, pulling out the binder containing the medical reports for all three Genin members of the newly formed task force. "Sir, we have much to discuss."

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **So, big changes I know for sure I made:**

 **1- The Age.**

 **I know that in cannon these guys were meant to be 12-13ish. The reason I changed it was two-fold.**

 **A) In Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora is roughly 15. I'm basing most of the Kingdom Hearts stuff on KH2, so there's that**

 **B) According to human genetics, Males don't finish puberty until 16 (on average). I highly doubt in my more militarized version of Konoha that hormonal kids would do very well as soldiers. So, I adjusted the age to make it reasonable.**

 **I decided this started at Naruto's generation. I implied there was a Kage Summit after the 3rd Shinobi where they agreed to limit the minimum age of Shinobi. Obviously, those already graduated are exempted from this rule.**

 **2- Konoha's Hatred of Naruto**

 **I'm honestly not sure how far off I am from cannon on this one. I know some other stories on this site have huge mobs, assassination attempts, heck a few even have crucifixion. From what I remember from the anime, he was mostly just ignored and talked down on. I changed it to be a more veiled and subtle for a few reasons.**

 **A) I think there's enough tension with the heartless LITERALLY SHATTERING THE WORLD. Konoha is Naruto's home base. I want a much quicker adjustment from dislike than cannon. It took Pain FLATTENING KONOHA for the citizens to respect him in that. Yes, I know it started waaaaaay back when he stopped Gaara, but my point stands.**

 **B) I want to focus more on the heartless and how their presence has altered the world of Naruto. As such, I'll need to generally have Naruto be more focused on that. As a member of the Task Force, He'll be saving lives, which at first means the people of Konoha. They'll come around.**

 **3- Kakashi**

 **Famously late and a lazy sensei would sum up early Kakashi. I obviously changed it a little, so he resembles his 4** **th** **Shinobi War self a bit more. Here's why:**

 **A) In my version, Kakashi adopted more than just his famous saying from Obito. He also inherited Obito's drive. Instead of being crushed by the Loss of his beloved sensei, he threw himself in to training, vowing to make sure that the sacrifices made by those before were worth it.**

 **B) Unlike cannon, the Task Force is being formed in a war time/ emergency environment. There's no time to waste on being 3 hours late. While that may fly as a quirk during peace time, in war it would not. Cannon team 7 was formed in a peaceful era. Kakashi knew that team 7 was good enough as is to handle thugs and bandits which is what's expected on a C rank Mission. My Kakashi is being forced to train them hard due to dire circumstances.**

 **C) At ANBU level, you have to have complete trust in your unit. (I would think) Now unlike ANBU, the Task Force is a public unit. So instead of lots of team building excercises to build that trust, Kakashi used mutual experiences of suffering to start a foundation. It's amazing what talking to someone does for building trust.**

 **4- Sasuke**

 **Sasuke is very different from cannon. Let's break this down:**

 **A) Sasuke doesn't hate Itachi because I made the heartless kill all the Uchiha. He has no reason to. Instead of torturing Sasuke to get him to hate Him, Itachi told him what happened. Itachi did this because unlike Cannon, where the massacre was planned somewhat in advance, Itachi was forced to roll with it. So, they used the 3 days Tsukuyomi provided them to strategize and train.**

 **B) Since Itachi didn't traumatize him even more AND the heartless did the work so there were no bodies, Sasuke didn't have as much mental trauma.**

 **C) because Sasuke knows about the heartless threat in advance (even though he didn't tell anyone because he thought no one would believe him) he had the drive to work his ass into the ground for improvement. He never rested on his laurels and learned the value of hard work. He learned to respect dedication which helped mellow out his pride a bit. (he was quiet in the academy not because he was an angry loner, but because he was coming up with new ways to train and didn't think anyone but Naruto could keep up.)**

 **D) Sasuke's relationship with Naruto is a rivalry. Naruto trained himself just as hard if not more so than Sasuke. The reason that they didn't talk much until this point was that due to Naruto's poor education, Sasuke thought he was an idiot. They bickered until by the end (they were in the academy for 8 years, Sasuke noticed Naruto was capable in a spar) they evolved into friendly rivals.**

 **Hinata**

 **I switched her with Sakura for two reasons**

 **A) before the time-skip, Sakura was essentially worthless as a ninja. She kinda shaped up towards the end.**

 **B) I decided the Byakugan could see the heartless as they move between worlds and cansee heartless lying in ambush. With that in mind putting A Hyuuga on the task force was necessary I decided on Hinata. Also her suffering at the hands of her clan elders aloows the boys to relate to her a little easier than sakura unless I set her up with a dark backstory. I didn't feel like it**

 **Sakura will join the task force once her training is done. She'll be Shippuden Sakura more or less by then.**

 **Kyuubi (Kurama)**

 **It's simple. He's cooperating out of desperation. (for now, Naruto will grow on him)**

 **Anything I missed? Shoot me a review! I would appreciate any extra Ideas you may have. Just make sure to type in English that actually makes logical sense if you don't mind.**

 **Thanks again!**

 **-Reaper's Flame**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** **AAAAaaaannnnddd I'm back at it again! Let's get this adorable train wreck on the road!**

If the three Genin members of the task force were asked to describe Kakashi's training in a single word, they would all pick one: hell. At 07:00, the team convened for training. Kakashi started by demonstrating to everyone the Shadow Clone Jutsu. "so, wait, you're telling me that shadow clones send back memories to their originals?" Naruto asked dumbly. Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto make a clone and send it over to those trees with my clone." Still confused, Naruto complied. At this point Sasuke was shaking his head at the stupidity of his rival. The pair of clones walked out of sight. Suddenly Naruto slumped over in defeat. Kakashi smiled. "So, I guess you have to give up ramen for a month." Naruto wailed in disappointment. Suddenly, Naruto stopped. Then realization dawned over his face. Kakashi continued. "Now that we're all up to speed, I'll start your training. Sasuke and Hinata, you will need to increase your chakra reserves to safely use the Shadow Clone Jutsu. While your control is better than Naruto, you'll need the Jutsu to speed up your training. Naruto, you'll need to use your Shadow Clones to improve your Chakra Control. While you'll never be able to reach perfect control, the more you improve, the better of you'll be in a fight." Kakashi walked over to a tree. "first, you'll learn to walk up surfaces." Kakashi slowly walked up the side of the tree, continuing onto the underside of a branch. "Being able to maneuver across various surfaces will help you both get between locations and allow you to avoid damage in battle. Beyond the technique's usefulness, it also increases your ability to manipulate Chakra considerably. I want Hinata and Sasuke to perform this technique until they can run a mile strait. Obviously, these trees aren't a mile long. Roughly 5 trips should do it. Keep in mind, what I call a "trip" is reaching the top of the tree and then coming back down without losing your footing." Kakashi paused, looking at his Genin to make sure they were still following. "as for you, Naruto, I want you to make 100 clones. Have them run laps up and down the trees until they drop. Replenish them as the disappear until our lunch break. You will be practicing using that Keyblade of yours. None of the few sword styles Konoha has will work for your weapon, not to mention its unique properties. As a result, you'll have to develop your own. First, I want you to find a natural method of swinging your blade. I can help you a bit with that. Are you all ready?" the Genin nod. Kakashi's visible eye hardened. "then BEGIN." The Genin jumped into action. Sasuke ran up the nearest tree, reaching about half way up the tree before slipping. Whipping out a Kunai, Sasuke cut a mark on the tree to mark his progress. Hinata paused, a slight frown on her face, as she pondered the exercise. _"If I run, I won't have to control my Chakra as much. Since control is my strong suit, I need to focus more on expanding my reserves. If I walk up the tree instead of running…"_ a small smile appeared on the shy girl's face. Calmly walking, she approached her nearest tree and began to walk up. _"As I expected, I'm using more Chakra per step. This will help."_ Kakashi noticed the Hyuuga girl walking and mentally applauded her. "Sasuke, since you're trying to improve both control AND your reserves, adjust your pace to a fast walk. Hinata, keep your current pace. Naruto, you'll need to run up and down the trees for your best results." Many Narutos groaned. Sasuke nodded, accepting the guidance of his superior that he was quickly beginning to respect. Meanwhile the original Naruto summoned his Keyblade in the middle of the clearing. Naruto entered a comfortable stance. His left foot was slightly forward while his right was in line behind it, pointed out at a roughly ninety-degree angle. His body was parallel with his front leg. Naruto adjusted himself so more of his weight was on his back leg. Keyblade in his right hand, Naruto brought the blade up and angled it down so the tip of the blade was pointed downward, yet also forward in a pseudo-guarded position. Naruto brought his left hand up near his head as a method of protecting his face. * Observing the stance, Kakashi frowned slightly as it wasn't anything he was used to. Deciding to test his student, Kakashi drew his Chakra Sabre. "Naruto, since we don't have a fighting form for you, you're going to have to do what you do best: improvise. Come at me with intent to kill, or you won't even scratch me." Kakashi released a small amount of Killer Intent. The man wasn't sure if Heartless can use it but decided to err on the side of caution. Feeling the oppressive aura of his sensei, Naruto responded instinctually. Determination flashed through his eyes.

"if you insist, sensei." Pushing hard off his back leg, Naruto flung himself at Kakashi. Holding his ground, Kakashi observed how his student moved. The boy moved with a certain grace. Grace only achieved by practice. _"it seems that running from the patrols after his pranks gave him quite the work out."_ Unexpectedly, Naruto planted his free hand on the ground, pivoting his momentum into a harsh heel drop. Kakashi leaned back, avoiding the powerful strike and countering with his own downward slash. Still rolling with his momentum, Naruto completed his mid-air flip and brought his Keyblade up to block the strike. They boy angled the blade to his left, allowing the force of Kakashi's strike to be deflected instead of taking it head on. Noticing Naruto's focus on the Chakra Sabre, Kakashi threw a lightning fast roundhouse kick with his left leg. The kick slammed into Naruto's ribs, roaring in just under Naruto's right elbow. The force behind the kick sent Naruto tumbling a few feet away. Rolling with the kick, the boy flipped himself onto his feet and skidded back.

"Not a bad start Naruto. Remember that an opponent may use more than one tactic against you. Don't over focus on one strike or block. Let's go again." Naruto smiled. Kakashi was ACTUALLY TEACHING HIM. Naruto re entered his stance and went back to work.

By the time noon rolled around, the three Genin were beat, in Naruto's case literally. Sasuke had managed to get 2 laps in at his speed walk pace. Having felt the challenge of the exercise, Sasuke was eager to see the results. Hinata seemed a bit down, having only completed a single lap without slipping. Naruto was grinning like a maniac. After his Shadow Clones dispelled, he could feel the difference in how his chakra reacted. Admittedly, it wasn't a huge difference in control, but it WAS noticeable. He made a noticeable improvement in only FIVE HOURS! Naruto was ecstatic. Seeing his students, Kakashi brought out the four meals he had packed for them. Setting a meal in front of each student, Kakashi cleared his throat. "now while you eat, I'm going to go over how I think you did." Hinata's depression visibly worsened. "Sasuke, you did very well. Based on your current progress, you should be able to learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu in about four days. Keep it up." Sasuke merely nodded. "Naruto, your skill with your Keyblade has improved, but your best improvement was your battlefield awareness. It's something that I will be working on with all of you."

Naruto's grin faltered slightly. "What about my control sensei? I mean, I can FEEL the difference, surely I did well there too." Kakashi nodded.

"that is true. However, keep in mind that by doing a little math, you gained this improvement with three whole weeks of training." Naruto's smile turned sheepish. "Don't misunderstand Naruto. Your control is improving, which is good, but that isn't your main objective right now." Naruto nodded. "Hinata." The girl froze, mentally awaiting the beratement she thought was coming. "If I had to choose one of you as most improved, it would be you." Hinata froze in shock. "Not only did you figure out the best way to do the exercise for your desired outcome, but you got twice as far as I expected you to. You have a lot of potential." Hinata was on the verge of tears. After years of getting minimal or backhanded compliments for her efforts, she almost couldn't accept her new sensei's words. She couldn't. She opened her mouth to protest, thinking that clearly Sasuke got twice as far as she did, when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder. The boy was practically glowing, his smile lit up the very air around him. Not a huge grin, no, a genuine smile.

"way to go Hinata." Naruto's tone, while a bit subdued compared to his earlier excitement, was heartfelt. He meant every word he had just said and had no reservations or jealousy on the matter. Hinata's face slowly reddened. The Look on Naruto's face, it… it… _"His smile… it's amazing…"_ Her cheeks began to burn. Glowing red Hinata quietly mumbled her thanks and looked down at her meal, blushing madly. Naruto just laughed off the girl's response and continued eating. Sasuke frowned. He knew the academy instructors were overly complimentary. Despite this knowledge, being second best to anyone was irritating. The lunch continued in silence.

Hours later, Kakashi called training to a close. Sasuke, being mildly aggravated by his previous jealousy had pushed himself harder, getting up to 3 laps on the tree. Hinata had gotten up to a lap and a half. Naruto was now much more comfortable handling his Keyblade. Kakashi had refamiliarized himself with the use of his sabre. "Sasuke, you have pushed yourself beyond my expectations again. I think with this continued drive, a good meal and rest you'll be ready in two days. Hinata you're still on track, keep up the good work. Naruto, your movements are becoming more fluid and natural. With luck, all of you will be ready for an assault on the Heartless soon. So far, the only Heartless we've run in to are the little ones we call shadows and the floating orbs known as possessors. That being said, be prepared for anything." The Genin beamed. Naruto was finally felt free. After years of loneliness and struggling, he finally had a teacher that would help and teammates that he can help. Maybe… maybe soon he would have true friends. Hinata was content. She had increased her chakra pool significantly and retained her control. Maybe her father would be proud of her for once. Sasuke was content. He had made significant progress. However, there was something gnawing at him. _"Abandon anything that would hold you back. Things like Clan laws or pride will only hinder you."_ Kakashi's words echoed through his mind. Pride. His injured pride had driven him, yes, but guilt filtered in. How can he condone jealousy at a teammate? Hinata has been nothing but kind to him throughout the academy, even after joining his team. She had never worshipped him like the others. She had treated him as a friend. He couldn't allow this negativity to fester. It would only hurt his team… his friends. Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Hinata. I… I need to apologize." Hinata appeared confused. "Kakashi asked us to abandon our pride. I'm struggling to do that. After the first half of training, I was jealous of you Hinata. I know many teachers praised me for doing basic things, but even with knowledge it does go to your head eventually. I'm sorry for my reaction and I will work on eliminating it in the future."

"Well done Sasuke." Kakashi interrupted. "Admitting there is a problem is the first step towards overcoming it. Controlling your pride is now a step closer. With that, I need to go adjust my training schedule. We will start simulation training once I can get you all up to speed." The Genin nod. "with that you are all dismissed." Kakashi vanished with a swirl of leaves. Suddenly, Naruto felt a pull from deep in his mind. Thinking it was exhaustion, he tried to resist, yet the harder he resisted, the stronger the pull became until his world turned black. As the world faded around him, all Naruto heard was Hinata calling his name.

Groaning, Naruto sat up, once again in his mind. The water level had receded from ankle depth to at most an inch of standing water. The pipes on the ceilings and walls were in a better state of repair. Even the lights were noticeably brighter, if still dim. Turning around, Naruto was greeted with the sight of the Kyuubi's cage. Its interior was still dark but was now visible compared to the abyssal shadows that were within it before. Inside there was a large bed designed for the huge fox and… a desk? odd. **"Welcome back boy. I have discovered a few things while using me senses to search the area. The border of your current fragment cannot be pierced yet. Only once you have sealed the keyhole for this fragment can you reach another."** Naruto frowned, but nodded. **"I have also discovered a way to allow you to bring others with you when you leap between fragments. However, for that we must make a deal."** The fox grimaced and Naruto raised an eyebrow. **"The only way for you to bring others with you is for you to use my chakra. Understandably, I don't want to give all my chakra for two reasons. One, it means giving up on ever seeing the outside world again as a being without chakra will die almost instantly in the real world."** Naruto's eyes widened. _"Even the Kyuubi can die from chakra exhaustion? Damn."_ **"Two, it would wreck the little chakra control you just achieved and possibly kill you, therefore killing me."** Naruto sighed and nodded, not particularly wanting to die either. **"Hence why we must make a deal. I will teach you to control small amounts of my chakra. In return, you will swear that upon your death I will be released from this prison. The obvious stipulations to this that I have no doubt you will ask for anyway are as follows. I will not rush you to your death. I will not attack Konoha or its people unless in self-defense. Should you die in battle, I will eradicate your foe before leaving. You will not attempt to steal my chakra from me. You will reunite this world and remove the Heartless threat. You will, once strong enough, eliminate the man who destroyed my home and created a Jutsu to control me, Madara Uchiha. If he is already dead and his Jutsu destroyed, then I will count that as completed. Fair?"** Naruto thought about this deal. Kyuubi would give him what he needed to save this world and all he asked was not to be stolen from and do what he wanted to do anyway. The last requirement though…

"Kyuubi, I get that… Madara right? Madara controlled you, but what do you mean by destroyed your home?" The fox nodded.

 **"My siblings, the other Biju, and I all lived together roughly a century ago. It may have been longer, it's hard to keep track of time within a seal. He came in the night, cast his Jutsu over me and use my power, power given to me to protect my family, to scatter my siblings to the four winds. He dragged me off to fight your First Hokage at which point I was sealed within a woman. Her name was Mito, I think. Unlike you, she never interacted with me. Never used my Chakra either come to think of it. Then I was resealed into another woman. Her name was Kushina. She never used my chakra except by instinct to heal herself. I don't think she was aware of it. She was kind though. You remind me of her come to think of it. She pranked people in her early years just as you did. Then I was ripped from her seal. When I saw the outside world again, I was happy. I could see my family once again. Before I could escape, I felt that damn Jutsu settle over me again. Next thing I know, I'm here."** As the fox finished his story, Naruto understood. No one wants to live in fear.

"I'll take that deal Kyuubi. It's more than reasonable considering two of your requirements for me I was going to do anyway. Madara is a known traitor in my village, so I don't mind stopping him. Can we get it in writing though? I want to make sure we don't forget the terms." Kyuubi grinned. This boy was starting to grow on him _**"Reminds me of Kushina more and more. I wonder if they're related or something."**_ Pulling a scroll from his desk, the fox cut his finger and began to write out the terms in blood. Once the fox finished, he signed his name at the bottom and passed the scroll through the cage for Naruto to read. It read as follows:

 **Contract between Naruto Uzumaki and Kurama, the Kyuubi**

 **This contract states that Kurama will be released from the seal upon Naruto Uzumaki's death in return for teaching Naruto Uzumaki how to use and control the Chakra belonging to Kurama. This will continue as long as the following conditions are upheld:**

 **Naruto Uzumaki will not attempt to take more Chakra than Kurama allows**

 **Naruto Uzumaki will do everything within his power to eliminate the Heartless threat to the world**

 **Naruto Uzumaki will kill Madara Uchiha if he is still alive**

 **Naruto Uzumaki will destroy the Jutsu created by Madara Uchiha that is used to control Biju**

 **Kurama will do nothing the try and rush Naruto Uzumaki to his death**

 **Kurama will do everything within his power to heal Naruto Uzumaki in battle**

 **Kurama will not attack Konoha or her people upon his release unless in self-defense**

 **Kurama will do everything within his power to eliminate the current enemies of Naruto Uzumaki should he die in battle**

 **Signing bellow indicates agreement to the above terms. This contract is binding beyond the death of Naruto Uzumaki.**

There were two signature locations at the bottom, one already signed by Kurama. Naruto blinked. "Your name is Kurama?" Kurama chuckled and nodded. "well, makes sense. Kyuubi has more of a title ring to it anyway. Reading over the contract one more time Naruto paused. "We never said you had to heal me in battle. Why did you add that?"

 **"Simple, it's self-serving to me and helps you. By putting this as a requirement, I have legal grounds to heal you which will loosen the seal slightly allowing me to give you a more regulated and natural flow of the Cakra I will teach you to control. If the seal hadn't loosened, the Chakra you gotten from me would have been… pressurized for lack of a better term. It would rush through your body and be uncontrollable to you. It also balances the number of requirements for each of us in the contract four to four."** Naruto nodded, then signed the contract. With a flash of light, the contract disappeared. The bars on Kurama's cage widened and decreased in number. **"Alright boy. I will begin your training tonight. Go to bed early, as training in your mind leads to slightly slower sleep recovery. You'll need closer to ten hours of sleep instead of the usual eight. I recommend crashing around 7:30p- sorry, your trained in military time. 19:30. That way you can still get up at 05:30 like you are used to. We will do this Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Fair enough?"** Naruto nods. **"Good. Now go. You need to find that keyhole. You should be able to sense it thanks to the Keyblade. That will get you close. As you get stronger, you will be able to show that Girl, Hinata was it? How to find them as well. Now get going. You have a world to save."** Naruto grinned before fading out.

Naruto groaned as he woke up a few moments later with his two teammates watching over him concerned. Next to him was the scroll he and Kurama had signed, now shrunk down to the size of a standard scroll. "N-naruto are you ok? You just collapsed" Hinata asked, a hand on his shoulder for support. Sasuke offered a hand to Naruto. Naruto took it and Sasuke pulled the orange clad ninja to his feet, Hinata pushing from behind slightly to help. Naruto sighed.

"It was Kurama." Hinata and Sasuke looked at Naruto confused. "That's the Kyuubi's real name. he figured out that no one can leave our section of the world until I find and seal the keyhole here. Even then, only I can freely move between sections normally." Hinata seemed sad and Sasuke was irritated. "oi, I said normally. Kurama found a way around that. It requires using his Chakra though, the last thing he has. So, we had to make a deal." Naruto holds up the contract scroll. "He knew sending me alone would be stupid. He knew he had to give me his Chakra, but he wanted it to be on his terms." Naruto unrolled the contract, showing his… friends. They were his friends now. He could trust them with this. "We signed this contract. It's legally binding. There's a place for the Hokage's seal. I intend to get the Old Man to stamp it and make a copy for the archives. This one stays with me." Sasuke paused as he read the clause about Madara.

"Why Madara? What did he do besides betray the… oh." He read the clause about Madara's Biju-controlling Jutsu. Both Genin silently concluded that it was a fair contact. "Now what Naruto? You made a deal with Ky- sorry, Kurama. You said something about finding a keyhole. How do we do that? The village is huge."

"um… wouldn't it be tied to something significant to the people? It's the h-heart of the village after all…" Hinata stuttered. The boys blinked. "M-maybe it would be on the Hokage m-monument." Naruto shook his head.

"The idea about it being significant to all of us is good, but I'm supposed to be able to sense the keyhole. I go up there in the evenings to watch the sunset. I haven't felt anything different." Hinata nodded. Sasuke pondered quietly. A thoughtful silence fell over the trio. The silence stretched on as they began to walk away from the training ground but was interrupted by a dark flash appearing before them. Dozens of Shadows swarmed out, charging the Genin. Naruto snapped into his battle stance, Keyblade appearing in a flash. Sasuke steps to Naruto's right, slightly behind the blond, his hands flashing through hand signs to prepare his only offensive Jutsu. Hinata assumed her Gentle Fist stance to Naruto's left, ready to defend her teammates. Naruto leaped forward, initiating the fight with a sweeping strike from his Keyblade, destroying the first shadow it struck and knock others back. Hinata was a step behind him, using a chakra filled palm strike to destroy a heartless that had leapt at Naruto from the side. Jutsu prepared, Sasuke channeled some Chakra through his legs and leapt high into the air, releasing his Great Fireball Jutsu upon the swarm. The ball of flames hit the central mass of the mob of Heartless, disrupting the portal they were flowing out of and leaving his team out of harm's way. Naruto saw his chance. "FLASH RAID!" he exclaimed. Naruto disappeared in a golden light, his Keyblade flying through the Heartless only to be redirected at the other end by Naruto as he appeared again then disappeared in another flash of golden light. The remaining heartless stood no chance. Only two heartless left, Naruto collapsed to his knees as exhaustion overtook him, his Keyblade vanishing once again. Hinata finished the two with well placed strikes then ran to Naruto. Sasuke was already by his side, hoisting the blond up with one of Naruto's arms around his shoulders.

"Naruto, what the fuck was that? You never said anything about recreating the FOURTH HOKAGE'S SIGNATURE JUTSU!" Sasuke exclaimed. Hinata slid Naruto's other arm around her shoulders and the Genin resumed their walk back to the village center. Naruto chuckled, his exhaustion clear.

"I didn't. That was a technique unique to my Keyblade. It uses a ton of chakra. I can't regulate it with my current control. I'm hoping to fix that eventually, but for now it uses up whatever I have left in a fury of power. You can see what happens after." Sasuke nodded. A technique that left you useless after using it was best left for emergencies or final strikes. "I am getting better though. Last time I used it I passed out. After improving my control, I'm still awake." Hinata giggled slightly. Sasuke smirked. Leave it to Naruto to always look on the bright side.

 **Author's Note:** **So, there's that. Some of you left me some reviews last chapter. I appreciate the feedback. In response, you have a point.**

 **STORY PLOT MINOR SPOILERS**

 **I was planning on brining Sakura into the Task Force with the others after the second mission outside of Konoha. The first mission will be as close to the Tsunade Retrieval arc as I'm gonna get in this shattered version of Naruto's reality. I'll also be bringing in some of the darker characters from Naruto soon. Next chapter even. (I'm writing it now as this goes up.) In Naruto Cannon a lot of characters are redeemed. Obito LITERALLY SICCED KURAMA ON KONOHA, BROUGHT ABOUT THE REVIVAL OF THE JUUBI, AND HELPED RESSURECT KAGUYA. He still got redeemed. Orochimaru INVADED KONOHA AND KILLED THE THIRD HOKAGE. He got redeemed… sorta. Anyway, point being, in true Kingdom Hearts fashion, there's gonna be one villain that truly works with the Heartless out of a desire for evil. In Naruto fashion, the rest of the characters will be gray. Doing crazy shit out of a relatable desire. You'll see what I mean soon.**

 **SPOILERS OVER**

 **Thanks for reading! I'm gonna keep trying to push out higher word counts like this compared to my first chapter. I hope you guys are enjoying this so far. Drop me a review if you have a moment. Ideally, tell me about my style more than story elements. If you have questions about story elements, drop a review too, just make sure you leave a name you want me to address you by and let me know you want a response. I'll answer in the next chapter I post after I see the review. Thanks, and I hope to hear from some of you soon.**

 **Reaper's Flame**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:** **OK! I literally just posted the last Chapter. Here we go!**

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat back, reclining int his chair behind his desk. His paperwork for the day was done. Two weeks had passed since the task force had formed. In that time, the Task Force had been ambushed no less than 13 times. The team had grown closer as a result. Konoha's defenses were holding strong. The stockpiles of food were holding, for now. The people are concerned, but not panicked. There was a knock at the door. Hiruzen sat up. "Enter." The door opened to reveal another elder. The man had spikey black hair and his right eye was covered in bandages. His chin had an x-shaped scar over it. The man wore a black robe covering most of his body, a white undershirt showing on his left side where his only visable arm extend to his cane. The man bowed to the Hokage, who sighed. "You know you don't have to do that Danzo. We've been friends for years now, you can afford to be more informal with me in private." Danzo smiled, a teasing glint appearing in his only visible eye.

"I'm well aware Hiruzen yet messing with you is one of the few pleasures I can afford in this time." The smile left Danzo's face. "I'm here to give my report." The Hokage waved him to continue. "The foundation project, code name ROOT, is a failure. While they are incredibly loyal, there are only loyal to me, not Konoha itself. After the testing period, I reintegrated the participants into the appropriate ranks based on their skill. After forming bonds with their peers, their loyalty to Konoha skyrocketed. Even on a purely voluntary basis, I would recommend scrapping these methods. Other training methods have shown to be just as effective over the same period and required no reintegration period." Danzo placed a file on the Hokage's desk. "This is the compiled report complete with my notes on every stage of the program. As your ANBU Director, that is my personal recommendation. The ANBU Commander has placed his own notes in the file as well. He agrees with my conclusion." The Hokage nodded. The creation of the ANBU Director position had been a stroke of Genius on Danzo's part. It gave the ANBU Commander freedom to train himself and his subordinates more directly, leaving paperwork and experimental training methods to the Director. This kept the ANBU Commander free for missions without interrupting the facilitation of ANBU missions or any other logistical problems that may occur in war. Hiruzen had given the position to Danzo and the man had flourished there. Since regaining office, the Third Hokage had read over some of the Fourth Hokage's notes for restructuring Konoha to be more efficient. Being friends, Danzo had read the notes himself. What he saw there was beyond his greatest expectations. For many years he had feared that actively pursuing peace would weaken Konoha's ability to protect itself. After seeing what the Fourth had planned… Danzo was satisfied. Danzo's dream of a Konoha strong enough to defend itself had come true. There was no need for him to bear the weight of Hokage, everything was handled. "The genetic project, code name Genesis, is a minor success. We have 6 men with usable wood-style genetics. Of those, one stands out." Danzo set a much lighter folder on the Hokage's desk. "He's an ANBU Captain, currently called Tenzo. Unlike the other members of the project, the First Hokage's DNA fully merged with his own. I would recommend he be allowed to sign a Summon Contract and learn the Sage Arts at some point. The First Hokage's techniques were nearly tripled in strength and speed when he used natural energy. Reguardless, he is currently the only member of the project to be able to pass on the genes. We are now out of the First Hokage's blood however, so this is the end of this project." Danzo placed the full project folder down. "The last Project report I have is on one of the other genetic projects, code name Yggdrasil." Danzo pulled his hidden right arm from his robe. It was wrapped in bandages from the shoulder down to the wrist. The hand was very pale and seemed to have a wooden texture to it. On the back of the hand was a single Sharringan eye. "As you can recall, no bodies were left from the Uchiha Massacre. Using donated blood from Sasuke, we cloned Sharringan eyes and implanted them into an arm made from the First Hokage's DNA. No optic nerves were connected, so I cannot see out of my arm." _"Thank God for that. That would have been disorienting. Not to mention, just plain weird."_ Danzo thought to himself. "The abilities of the Sharringan remain. Any Jutsu done within their theoretical line of sight is copied. I am borderline immune to most Genjutsu. The unexpected result is this." The Sharringan on the back of Danzo's hand changed. The colors inverted, becoming black with a red symbol. The red tomoe swirled around, changing and warping until the finalized shape was revealed. It seemed to be a spiral center with eight triangles around it, resembling a sun. each triangle ha a line from the outer-most point connecting it to the swirl. "In order to allow for a more natural implantation, some of my DNA was mixed in. I assume this is why I can shut off the Sharringan unlike Kakashi Hatake. Since my DNA mixed in, these are effectively my Sharringan. I haven't discovered any unique effects of my Mangekyo yet, but I don't want to over use them either." Danzo stopped channeling Chakra to the eye on his hand. It Swirled back to a normal sharringan before closing, leaving an almost invisible line as the only indication that is was ever there. "this is what happens whent I 'shut off' my sharringan." The Hokage smiled sadly.

"You do know the only way to achieve the Mangekyo is an overload of remorse. Do you think it was-"

"I know it was Hiruzen. I'd prefer not to say more than that." Danzo Interjected.

The Hokage nodded. Danzo set the final file down. "you know Danzo, even your Mangekyo shows your dedication to Konoha. If you pay attention, it looks like our leaf symbol overlaid eight times. I'm going to close this project as well. We don't have any more of the First Hokage's DNA and once Itachi returns and Sasuke comes of age, limited Sharringan won't be a worry anymore." Danzo nodded. His new arm was an oddity. Genetic experimentation on this scale isn't something that should be spread around just yet. "Is that all?" Danzo nodded. The Hokage created a Shadow Clone that quickly gathered up the files and began to read through them in detail. "dismissed." Danzo bowed once again and turned to leave. Hiruzen's eye twitched. "Danzo, where the hell were you keeping these files. I know for damn sure you didn't have them when you came in. Danzo merely chuckled as he left.

Sakura sighed as sat down on the couch in her apartment. It was finally done. She was a full-fledged medical ninja. Now she would be assigned to a squad. The last few weeks had been… eye-opening to say the least. Even with the extended time in the academy, she wasn't prepared. She had seen pictures, read statistics, memorized facts, yes. All of that pales in comparison to experiencing the real aftereffects of combat. The amount of injuries flooding in to the Hospital at first had been staggering. And the blood… Sakura shuddered slightly. At first, she had frozen. Terror and horror gripping her heart and body in a frosty vice. After a week she had been moving patient to patient, assisting where she could. By the end of the second week she was fully independent, healing the injured perfectly with no aid or support required beyond the usual outgoing check to ensure nothing was overlooked. Sakura looked down at her hands. For years she thought her photographic memory was enough. Memorizing textbooks was all well and good, but paled to first hand experience. From the coffee table in front of her, Sakura picked up the Medic badge the she would have to wear in addition to her Headband. It was a simple light gray elastic band with a red cross on it. Setting it down, she retrieved her deployment orders. Opening the seal on the document, the young woman began to read.

 _ **SAKURA HARUNO**_

 **You are hereby appointed to join** _ **TASK FORCE ALPHA**_ **under the command of Jonin** _ **KAKASHI HATAKE**_ **. Your teammates are** _ **HINATA HYUUGA**_ **,** _ **SASUKE UCHIHA**_ **, and** _ **NARUTO UZUMAKI**_ **. Report to** _ **BREIFING ROOM 7**_ **for your team meeting at 07:00 tomorrow. Congratulations on earning your** _ **MEDICAL NINJA**_ **certification. Remember to always uphold the Will of Fire.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **Konoha Ninja Administration Office**

Sakura smiled slightly. The document itself seemed mass produced, but the blanks had been filled in by hand. The Third Hokage's seal adorned the bottom right hand corner, officiating the document. Sakura laid out her equipment for the next day. While running through this nightly routine, her mind wandered to her team. _"God, it feels like forever since I've seen any of them. I wonder if they'll even recognize me anymore. Will Sasuke like my shorter hair?"_ Sakura ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair. Sasuke… She loved him. Even now. Sakura cringed as she remembered her time towards the beginning of the academy. Screaming her 'undying love' for the dark-haired boy and punching a blond any time he talked to her. As the years progressed she had… leveled out so to speak. Puberty is a weird phase for everyone. After talking with Naruto, a couple of times, she quickly grew to like the boy as a friend and maybe even love him as a brother. When she told him, he was crushed at first, but after a little time to think he agreed with her. Hinata was a sweet girl, and after she had become friends with Naruto and said boy stopped obsessing over Sakura, the two had bonded as well. Sasuke had remained distant to everyone, but polite. Sakura bit her lip as she began to think of the boy. She hoped he would see how dedicated she was to this now.

FLASHBACK

It was a day the academy students had been looking forward to for years. As part of their training, they would get as drunk as possible. This allowed them to learn about the effects of alcohol on a personal level. The best way to see how a substance alters your mind is to experience it. Now 3 hours in and many students were passed out in their seats. Naruto was in a corner joking with Hinata as the girl laughed in a confident and care-free way. Kiba was asking Akamaru when he learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. Ino was walking around topless and dancing on tables. Shikamaru was trying to explain to Choji why he thought the Hokage Monument was built by aliens. Choji was surprisingly attentive. Shino was playing himself in checkers using his bugs as the board and pieces. Sasuke was in the corner, a more defined scowl than usual on his face. Sakura felt the burning in her stomach, but beyond that felt very normal. After leaving her two friends in the corner and gently removing Ino from the hug the blond girl had forced her into, Sakura walked over to Sasuke. She smiled. "hey Sasuke, how are you?" Sasuke grunted and looked down at the half-empty bottle of vodka in his hands. "Would you like to hang out with Naruto, Hinata, and I?" Sasuke looked up. A confused and annoyed look spreading across his face.

"Why would I doooo that?" the boy slurred as he took another hit from the bottle. Sakura frowned. Sasuke at his worst was never rude.

"why not?" She responded. Sasuke paused. Confusion morphed into thought. Thought morphed into anger. _"oh shit. Is he an angry drunk?"_ ***** Sasuke stood up suddenly, swaying slightly as fury overtook his face.

"I have no desire to spend any time with someone who doesn't take her training seriously! Look at you! You think your sooooooo great because you don't have to try when you study. You barely meet the standards for the physical half of the academy. Guess what princess? The real-world fucking sucks. As you are, you'll die. Why would I hurt myself by being friends with a walking corpse?"

FLASHBACK END

Sakura smiled sadly. Those words had hurt, but once she was sober, she saw what he really meant. It wasn't her personally, it was her skill level. It wasn't enough. Sakura decided then and there that she was going to take full advantage of her memory. Instead of skimming books, she memorized them. Instead of giving minimal effort in the physical classes, she tried her best. At Home, she studied as much as she needed to keep her Test scores high, then instead of goofing off, she trained MORE. After a month she could see and feel the results. Her peers didn't seem to notice, but the academy teachers did. Looking back, she wasn't sure how much any of them remembered. She knew some parts of her own memory were a blur. Did Sasuke even remember what he said? Does it matter? Sakura sighed and looked at the clock. It was time for bed. Looking down at her freshly maintained equipment, she blinked. She had gone through her entire routine on autopilot. It really was time for bed. Sakura checked her alarm before closing her eyes and welcoming the sweet bliss of sleep.

The next day, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata all sat in the briefing room at 06:30. After two weeks of frustration, they still hadn't found the Keyhole. Between being bombarded with Heartless and their training, they hadn't had near as much time to look. Lost in their own thoughts, they didn't notice the door open quietly at 06:45 to reveal Sakura. As she stepped into the room, the Medic ran her eyes over her friends and teammates. Naruto had changed his outfit. While the orange remained prominent, his shirt had changed from the bulky jacket to a slim orang t-shirt with the sleeves cut off with black flames reaching up asymmetrically from the hem near his waist. His sandals were now black, and he had white tape running from his ankles about a quarter of the way up his lower legs, his orange pants puffing out slightly just above the top of the tape. A mesh undershirt, also without sleeves, peaked out of the v-cut neck of his over shirt. The armor went to the base of the Blonde's neck. There was a single armored bracer on his left arm. His headband and weapons pouches were in the same place, now black in color as well. The red spiral was still centered on his back. Hinata had ditched the bulky parka for a much slimmer lavender jacket. The jacket had black accents on the shoulders and waist. Hinata was also wearing fingerless black gloves with a hole in the middle of the palm. Hinata had her sleeves rolled up just above the elbow, revealing the leather bracers she was wearing. Hinata had her Headband on black cloth as well and was now wrapped around her head, keeping her slightly longer bangs out of her eyes. Sasuke was wearing a light gray high collar shirt. Centered on both sides of the collar was his clan symbol. Over his shirt, Sasuke was wearing a leather harness that formed an X over his chest with a belt around his waist. Attached are two small leather shoulder pads. Peaking over one of his shoulders is a black sword hilt. Like Naruto, Sasuke had no sleeves. On his wrists are black wristbands. His dark blue pants were baggy and taped near the bottom of his lower leg like Naruto. Just Like his teammates, his Headband was wrapped around his head, its dark blue cloth matching the rest of his gear. Sakura smiled slightly. "well, no one told me there was a dress code." She huffed jokingly, catching the squad's attention. Sakura had her hair pulled back in a small pony tail. Her Headband still on its read cloth was wrapped around her waist. A mesh undershirt wen up to the base of her neck and down to her mid-bicep on her arms. Over the full mesh shirt, Sakura wore a red crop top, revealing her mesh-armored midriff. Around her waist is a pink skirt, under which she wore black skin-tight shorts that run down to just above her knees. On her feet are a pair of black sandals. Sakura's weapon pouches were in their usual places, with an additional hip pouch containing her medical supplies. "SAKURA!" Naruto cried happily. Hinata smiled and waived to her pink haired friend as the blond wrapped his sister-figure in a hug. Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he analyzed the pink-haired medic's equipment. Everything was used, yet meticulously maintained. Sasuke chuckled to himself. The girl he had mentally written off as nothing more than a fan girl had dedicated herself to training and he hadn't noticed! The way she moved comfortably in her combat attire hinted at months of training with it, if not years. _"Her training really has paid off…"_ Sasuke thought as his eyes roamed. The boy blinked before shaking his head. There isn't time for hormones right now. Perhaps later… the four teens sat down together. Sasuke interrupted the small chat the other three were having.

"Any luck on finding the key hole?" Naruto sighed dejectedly and Hinata shook her head. Sakura blinked, confused.

"Uh… I'm not up to speed. Mind filling me in on what you mean?" Sakura asked. Sasuke nodded and the three original members of the Task Force brought their new teammate up to speed. Sakura blinked, then stood slowly. "I think I know where it is." The other Genin gasped. "It's kinda simple when you think about it. The Memorial Stone." Naruto blinked confused. Hinata's eyes shone with realization. Sasuke had a look of mild frustration on his face. _"I know I've heard that term before. What is the memorial stone?"_ before he could ask, Sakura explained. "The Memorial Stone is a shrine to all fallen ninja of Konoha. Ever person who is killed on a mission has their name added to the stone. The Stone was once a small shrine but increased massively in size after the Third Shinobi War. It was moved to the North Forest and expanded to properly honor the names of all the fallen men and women." Sakura concluded. Naruto Grinned excitedly.

"Let's Check it out!" He exclaimed as he leapt to his feet.

"After today's training Naruto." Kakashi said, startling all the Genin. _"When the hell did he get here?"_ they thought in unison. Kakashi smiled. "I'm having each of you retake the tests I gave you at the beginning to measure your progress as well as set the baseline for our new team medic, Sakura. Welcome to the team. Now, off we go!" Sakura raised an eyebrow at her fellow Genin's groans. She would learn soon enough.

WARNING: NUMBERS AND STATS INCOMING

 **NARUTO UZUMAKI**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 14 (Only Naruto's Chakra was measured. Does not count Kyuubi)

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 7

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 7

 **STRENGTH:** 7

 **SPEED:** 7

 **ENDURANCE:** 11

 **STEALTH:** 10

 **IQ:** 114

 **EDUCATION:** 5

 **SASUKE UCHIHA**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 8

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 10

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 10

 **STRENGTH:** 7

 **SPEED:** 7

 **ENDURANCE:** 8

 **STEALTH:** 7

 **IQ:** 126

 **EDUCATION:** 7

 **HINATA HYUUGA**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 8

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 16

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 5

 **STRENGTH:** 6

 **SPEED:** 8

 **ENDURANCE:** 7

 **STEALTH:** 6

 **IQ:** 119

 **EDUCATION:** 7

 **SAKURA HARUNO**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 7

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 20

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 7

 **STRENGTH:** 5

 **SPEED:** 8

 **ENDURANCE:** 6

 **STEALTH:** 5

 **IQ:** 120

 **EDUCATION:** 10

 **KAKASHI HATAKE**

 **CHAKRA CAPACITY:** 12

 **CHAKRA CONTROL:** 14

 **HAND SEAL SPEED:** 12

 **STRENGTH:** 10

 **SPEED:** 10

 **ENDURANCE:** 10

 **STEALTH:** 15

 **IQ:** 131

 **EDUCATION:** 12

"Kakashi…" Sakura gasped from the floor "I… Hate you…" The rest of the Genin moaned their agreement. Kakshi added the updated notes to his folder on the Task Force.

"With that out of the way, let's head over to the Memorial Stone. I'll lead you there." The Genin nodded, and slowly got up.

As the team trudged out into the woods, a strange silence swept the forest. Shadows grew longer and the atmosphere dimmed. "Team, Formation X." muttered Kakashi. Immediately, the 4 genin rearranged themselves into the diamond formation drilled into them over the course of their academy years. Naruto lead the group, Keyblade drawn and resting on his right shoulder Sasuke took the left position, Sharringan active and sword drawn in his left hand. Hinata Activated Her Byakugan and moved to the rear. Kakashi slipped over to the right flank, kunai in his right hand. His left was positioned and ready to reveal his sharringan. Sakura moved to the center, enabling her to move to any teammate quickly in case of an ambush injury. As the team entered the clearing containing the memorial stone, a ring of purple flames surrounded them. A large oval-shaped portal stretched out of the ground, wisps of pure darkness oozing off. A large wave of heartless swept out of this portal, all seemed to be tiny insectoid-like black blobs with shining yellow eyes. Naruto Grinned. With a puff of smoke, 5 Narutos now stand where one once stood. The group of Orange Ninjas took a loose V-like formation as the wave of Heartless approached. The Darkness swarmed into a wall of high-speed Keyblade strikes. What heartless weren't destroyed were forced to split. Sasuke finished flashing through hand-signs, Sharringan eyes spinning, just as one of the smaller groups reached him. Leaping into the air, a torrent of fire poured from the boy's mouth. Kakashi ran a large amount of lightning chakra into the blade of his chakra saber, his single sharringan eye flashing dangerously. A deadly dance of a glowing blade that seamed to scorch the air around it ripped through the heartless that came his way. Sakura peppered the main wave in front of Naruto with Kunai, slowing them and killing mainy. Hinata maintained her Rear-guard position. Calling out patterns of enemies and stray heartless that tried to pop up behind her team. the battle continued for what seemed like hours. More and more heartless appeard, then suddenly it all stopped. The ninja looked around. The fire remained and the portal still stood, yet nothing came. Sasuke dropped to one knee, panting heavily. _"Damn it. I overused the Fire Breath Jutsu. Even after all my training, using B-Rank Ninjutsu continuously is taxing."_ Naruto's clones dispelled. The blonde only had a slightly faster breathing pattern. Kakashi sighed as he lowered his headband.

 _"as much as I would like to remind Sasuke of the importance of Chakra Conservation, I'm fairly low myself. The Chakra Saber conversion sucks my reserves dry. Mix that with my Sharringan and…"_ Kakashi sighed again. His reserves were sitting at about 20% of their maximum. _"On the bright side, my reserves are growing again. I haven't made this much growth since my ANBU days."_ Sakura quickly diagnosed her downed teammate. Using a minor lightning Jutsu, she stimulated the nerves around the raven-haired boy's central chakra coil to stimulate chakra production. It was a short term boost, one that couldn't afford to be overused due to the risk of nerve damage. Sasuke felt his chakra begin to recover and nodded to Sakura as thanks.

Hinata's head snapped up in alarm. "WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" she yelled. A malicious laugh filled the air. A much larger single figure stepped out of the portal. As this shadowy figure stepped foreward, the portal closed. Naruto examined the the new enemy, eyes wide. The figure was wearing torn blue ninja sandles over black clawed feet. Blue baggy pants wrapped around the figures muscular legs. The creature wore no shirt, but the green vest was distinctively a Konoha vest, yet altered. Metal plates covered this being's shoulders and a row of razors decorated the hems of the vest. Where the heart should be was a hole, which could be seen though, revealing the Heartless symbol on the back of the vest. The red talons tipping the being's fingers were as sharp as it's vest accessories. Yet the most disturbing thin of all was the face. It was Mizuki's face, yet pitch black. The yellow glowing scalera contained a black iris in each eye with a yellow pupil. Extending from the warped teacher's head are 2 lightning bolt shaped antenna. The monster continued to laugh madly. Naruto growled. The blonde boy charged. The beast roared, knocking Naruto back and launching his team out of the ring of flames. The moment she landed, Hinata surged towards the flames, only to run in to an invisible barrier. She pounded against this obstacle to no avail. Naruto cursed. He was on his own. Raising his keyblade once more, Naruto readied himself to face his current threat.

 **Author's Note:** **Sorry for this super late update. Life has been… Difficult. I rewrote this about 6 or 7 times, but it just didn't feel right.**


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto snarled as he faced the monster that his teacher had become. Mizuki laughed. **"I see you've accepted your true origins, Kyuubi boy."** Naruto smirked. "So says the monster." Mizuki snarled and lunged forward attempting to pierce the blond boy with his claws. Barely rolling out of the way, Naruto cursed as he swung his Keyblade and struck the monstrous teacher, knocking him away. Mizuki growled mindlessly as he clawed at the air, launching a crescent shaped wave of darkness. Naruto leapt into the air, dodging, before performing a front flip in mid-air, bringing his keyblade down hard on his opponent's head. Mizuki yelped in pain as he was driven to his knees, only to roar in furry as he launched a fearsome uppercut. Naruto tilted his head back. The punch barely grazed him, and yet he was knocked through the air. Quickly recovering, the blond landed in his starting stance, keyblade overhead. _"SHIT! If even one of those connects, I may be down for the count. This bastard is strong as hell. I'm barely faster than him. What now?"_ Grinning savagely, Mizuki charged at Naruto, claws dragging against the ground on either side of him. Naruto charged straight forward as well, as they were about to collide, Mizuki planted his feet in order to try and tear Naruto to shreds. Seeing the opportunity, the blonde keyblade wielder slid beneath the monster's feet, swinging around to deliver a vicious strike to his opponent. Finally given some breathing room, Naruto grinned. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!" in a poof of smoke, 4 more Narutos appeared. In their hands each held a keyblade, though theirs were far simpler. A red hilt in the vague shape of flames led up to a long silver rod. At the top, a Konoha emblem protruded from one side. * Deciding to investigate later, the five attacked as one. As one Naruto slashed into the teacher, breaking his guard, another would fill that hole in the defense with a blade. Strike after strike, this went on for several minutes until finally Mizuki roared "ENOUGH! I'm tired of this." A blast of darkness emanates from the teacher, knocking Naruto back and dispelling his clones. The teacher's roar became even more bestial than before as the man transformed. He grew a feline tail, the end of which was capped with a kunai. He grew taller, yet began to hunch slightly as muscle rippled through his body. In a flash, the beat clawed at Naruto, scoring 5 large gashes against his torso. The momentum launched the blond into the invisible barrier marked with purple flames, only for him to bounce off and land face first on the ground. Rising slowly to his feet, using his keyblade to support himself, Naruto turned to look at his team. the girls were crying as the desperately tried to break the barrier, while Sasuke looked furious, even as a few tears leaked from his eyes. Naruto smiled grimly, offering a thumbs up. Turning back to his opponent, the blonde keyblade wielder raised his blade, pointing it directly at the monster his teacher had become. "Flash Raid." Naruto muttered just as he launched his keyblade, disappeared in a blinding flash of yellow. Flash after flash, strike after strike, the blonde roared as he continued to pump every ounce of chakra he could reach into this move. His stomach began to burn as his chakra was quickly exhausted. Collapsing to his knees once more, the blonde slowly raised his head to observe his opponent. While worse for wear, the beast still stood! Darkness pulled at his vision as Naruto closed his eyes, praying that it was the Kyuubi calling him, not his exhaustion.

Naruto sighed in relief when he opened his eyes to see the familiar gate in front of him. Running up to it quickly, Naruto pounded on one of the bars. "KYUUBI! I need your help. I did everything I could, but this bastard is still standing, even after flash raid. I have nothing left. Please, I need your chakra. I need to survive so I can fix this damn world!" a dark chuckle emanated from the shadows of the cage as the Kyuubi stepped into the light. **"So polite of you to ask. Since I need you to fix this world anyway, I'll oblige. Let's see what happens when your key gets a taste of my chakra."** A blast of crimson chakra shot from the cage, engulfing Naruto before darkness consumed him once more. Opening his eyes, the blonde felt this new power flood his system. As he began to channel it to his keyblade, a surge of a new type of energy flowed back into him. Once again, words flowed to his lips. **"Kyuubi's Valor!"** the boy roared. Red Chakra exploded from his system, washing over him. His outfit began to transform. The black cloth beneath his headband bleached white. His formerly orange shirt also bled white and the black flames burned into a deep crimson. His orange pants bled white as well, while his ankle wraps turned crimson to match the flames. On his back, an image of a snarling Kuubi appeared. A mist of red chakra continued to emanate from the boy as he held out an empty hand. Another keyblade appeared there, the same one his clones had previously used. Naruto placed his new key in front of him as he rested his usual key across his shoulders. Grinning confidently as he felt his wounds heal, Naruto quickly lunged forward, startling Mizuki with his new speed. Naruto quickly slid into a rhythm of circular attacks, devastating his opponent. Finally, the beast collapsed to the ground. Panting slightly, Naruto felt his powerup fade along with his secondary keyblade. Collapsing to one knee, the blonde could only watch as the darkness faded from Mizuki's skin. "NARUTO!" the rest of Team 7 roared as the charged over. Hinata gently laid the blond onto his back, despite his protests that he was fine, while Sasuke stood over Mizuki waiting for him to make a move. Said academy teacher groaned as he barely forced himself to roll onto his back. "Wha-what happened?" he groaned. "Identify yourself!" Sasuke barked. "Mizuki Touji, Shinobi ID number 110748A. I was about to finish my mission when- "Mizuki's groaning voice cut out as his eyes snapped open. "OH GOD! WHERE'S NARUTO? Is he ok? After the monsters attacked, I was swallowed up by darkness. I couldn't feel, hear, smell, or see anything? Where am I? how long have I been gone?" Sasuke sighed in relief. "Its ok. Genin Sasuke Uchiha here. I'll take you to the Hokage so we can get you debriefed." Naruto finally managed to escape his 2 female teammates' grasps. "I told you both that I'm fine! Now let's seal that keyhole." Naruto turned to the Monument before him as the ghostly outline of a keyhole appears. Casually aiming his keyblade at the hole, a beam of light shot out. With a quick flick of his wrist, Naruto's action released a loud locking sound as the keyhole faded from existence. Naruto once again collapsed to his knees. "Is it over?" he asked tiredly. Sakura and Hinata each pulled one of his arms around their shoulders, allowing them to carry him. "Yes Naruto, it's over. At least for now." Naruto grinned tiredly. Does that mean I can sleep forever?" Sasuke chuckled. "Yeah, you can sleep forever." Naruto sighed in relief. "I'm gonna sleep foreeeeeeeeever…" the blonde trailed off as he fell asleep.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned as he observed the Chunin before him. The exhausted form of Mizuki sat upright, if tiredly, in a chair. "Report, Chunin Touji." Mizuki nods

"Lord Hokage, as Liaison to the Shadow snake corps, I was issued a mission to test our security as well as tested one of our more promising stealth operatives in the academy. My mission report was up to date and is sealed with in this scroll before I went to meet Naruto and Iruka at the completion zone." Mizuki shakily removes a sealing scroll from his flak jacket, marked with the word 'Mission'. "I marked it clearly in case an accident occurred and I was disavowed before I could reach you to deliver this report. In here are all the details of my analysis of our security system." The aging Hokage took the scroll and set it aside for later reading. The room fell silent as the Chunin finished speaking and the Hokage thought quietly. "Chunin Touji, due to your status of being captured, I will have to briefly imprison you pending a mental evaluation by one of the Yamanka in order to ensure that nothing is using you as a sleeper agent." Mizuki sighed sadly, but nodded in understanding. "That being said, your evaluation is tomorrow at 16:00. In the meantime, you may have visitors to your cell. Just know that you will be overseen by ANBU during these visitations." Mizuki smiled happily as he thought of his fiancé. "ANBU, escort Chunin Mizuki to his temporary holding cell and ensure he is treated by a medic." A white mask seemed to phase out of the shadows as a swirl of leaves swept Mizuki away. Hiruzen Sarutobi reached into one of his many desk drawers and removed his tobacco pipe. As he began to prepare for a smoke, only one thought crossed his mind. _"What now?"_

 **Author's Note:** **Sorry for the late update. I had a seizure, and as someone who has no history of seizures that is concerning. I currently have electrodes glued to my head so they can measure my brain waves. I especially apologize to PhazonLordKaito, to who I promised the chapter out in May. Hopefully the next chapter will be out faster. Next up is the closest thing to the Tsunade retrieval arc that we're gonna get in this crazy world. As stated above, hopefully it will be faster.**

 ***This is the equivalent of the Kingdom Key D for this story. It's a basic keyblade with no exceptional features. Think of it as a place holder until Naruto has more keys. Naruto's Key is unique to him. I'd call it "Fourth's Legacy" if I named keyblades in this story. I'll bring that up when Naruto gets an official 2** **nd** **keyblade**


End file.
